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1 - Utter kaos!

I understand the need the dramatic need for prequel characters to be as different as possible from their original work selves, but sometimes it's just unrealistic. This would be like C-3PO being a hardened assassin droid in the prequels only for the horror of the Clone Wars to turn him into the fearful droid seen in the original movies. Lucas did right to keep Threepio mostly the same.

Spock is 27 in Discovery and 35 in TOS's 'Where No Man Has Gone Before'. Being 35 myself, I know my 27 year old self is in fact mostly the same as my current self and wasn't nearly as different as Spock seems to be between 27 and 35.

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I think you are probably missing the point of the scene. We've seen Spock get violent or display apparently emotional behavior numerous times over the course of TOS, in Man Trap, The Galileo Seven, Amok Time and All Our Yesterdays for particular reasons. We have been made aware he has a unique relationship with Burnham and they are arguing in private. I don't see his behavior as out of character or that he's obsequious C3P0) suddenly been turned into the equivalent of a 'hardened assassin'. IMO, that comparison seems to me rather hyperbolic.

Spock is 27 in Discovery and 35 in TOS's 'Where No Man Has Gone Before'. Being 35 myself, I know my 27 year old self is in fact mostly the same as my current self and wasn't nearly as different as Spock seems to be between 27 and 35.

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Then you would be unique in my experience, especially in terms of emotional development and maturity. I am certainly not the same as myself 10 years ago and can observe changes that have occurred.

There are a lot of assumptions regarding the Spock character and his history. I always struggle with the idea that he is static, especially given how Nimoy stated he played him, and the occasions shown were emotional control does lapse.

Hoo boy, I was not nearly as chill ten years back as I am now. Spock is entitled to a tantrum under his circumstances, I think.

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I find it the opposite actually. Bitterness creeps in as years go by and you see the optimism of your youth was unfounded, and the sheer amount of hard work you put in school and in your job at twenties leads to bare minimum results (high-paying, stable job but no social life and your reward for being a good, decent, reliable person is "I don't want to be rude, but I don't know you.")

In the end I find myself more thinking like a kid in my 30s (spending time on Star Trek and other entertainment forums, caring mostly about my pet and what comic book/computer game I will enjoy next) than I ever did in my early 20s when I was trying so hard to be "mature" and "adult".

There still wasn't such a drastic change between me at 27 and 35, just more outgrowth of elements that were already there. 35 year old me and 27 year old me wouldn't find each other unrecognizable.

And from personal experience with other people, if someone is throwing tantrums at 27 I wouldn't hold my breath that would go away at 35. I found out the hard way that a lot of people claiming they "matured" or "grew up" is them just hiding those darker aspects of their personalities better...

* I really enjoyed the emotional tone of the episode, and the character interactions, which were skillfully written and acted. Unfortunately, the plot didn't quite work for me. In particular, when everyone was on the bridge just watching things go sideways on the station, I kept wondering "Did the transporters go down and no one mentioned it? Why don't they just transport the team back? Or at least Airiam?" It drained all the tension out of the showdown.

* In larger story-arc terms, I can't say I'm thrilled that this has turned into "Control = Skynet."

It drains the moral complexity out of things. I was hoping that the threat posed by S31 would involve actual live beings with plausible (if corrupt) motivations. As serialized storytelling goes, it also seems contrived to reveal that Starfleet is being threatened from within because it relied on a thing we've literally never had described in any detail before this very episode (as witness all the past speculation over "what is Control anyway?").

Now that I think about it, there's a pretty good argument that "Red Angel = John Connor," too. Which doesn't help...

And from personal experience with other people, if someone is throwing tantrums at 27 I wouldn't hold my breath that would go away at 35. I found out the hard way that a lot of people claiming they "matured" or "grew up" is them just hiding those darker aspects of their personalities better...

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Spock often is hiding things though, as we discover in TOS.

Also, we know that Spock is proactive in terms of wanting become more Vulcan as he goes. This is just one step in his journey.

Regardless, individuals will vary, and I have no doubt that Spock could grow in ten years.

Late Season 1 Kirk feels very different at times from early Season 1 Kirk. Compare the thoughtful, measured Kirk of 1967 episodes to the Kirk of the night of September 8, 1966 that lambasted Professor Crater for "bleeding too much" and not wanting to kill the last of the salt creatures.

Considering that the Picard show supposedly has something to do with Romulans (distant relatives of Vulcans), maybe this is the premise of that show.

Ethan Peck can be a great Spock as shown in 'If Memory Serves'. But he needs good writing. That scene with Spock knocking down the chessboard after a tantrum in this episode was awful. I don't blame Peck here, but the writers of the script that told him to do that.

Spock is not supposed to be a violent character. We're already having trouble with this with Quinto-Spock over at the Kelvin timeline.

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This is the Spock that smiled in The Cage, that shouted 'The women!' but you have an issue with him showing anger? LOL

Now we know for sure that Spock didn't kill the shrinks at Starbase 5. Unfortunately, it means that Section 31 probably killed them.

I mean, S31 can't take the chance that the people it's trying to frame Spock for murdering, will turn up in public...

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Watching Trek in chronological order will seem so anticlimactic now. Once Bashir has captured Sloan, we'll all be waiting for old Spock to show up out of nowhere and say, "I will take it from here", as he forcibly mind melds with Sloan to rip the cure for Odo out of Sloan's memory, following up on a century-long fight with Section 31.

Also, it's surprising that Cornwell takes that video at face value so easily. New research shows that creating fake videos is a very possible reality in the near future here in the 21st century...

And from personal experience with other people, if someone is throwing tantrums at 27 I wouldn't hold my breath that would go away at 35. I found out the hard way that a lot of people claiming they "matured" or "grew up" is them just hiding those darker aspects of their personalities better...

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I agree with you. And, in fact, Spock throws a tantrum in "Amok Time" and gets pretty upset in "This Side of Paradise" and "All Our Yesterdays". He has limited emotional development because he keeps trying to repress it.

It's also why he gets so frustrated with the landing party in "The Galileo Seven". And probably also he never has a real command of his own. He just doesn't completely gel as a Captain, like "The Tholian Web" and "This Side of Paradise" show. He makes mistakes, trying to reduce friction between himself and the crew -- particularly McCoy -- is difficult, and as he said, he doesn't want command. Probably because he's not a people person. It's kind of funny that he goes on to become an Ambassador, but this was after he made peace with his two halves.

Late Season 1 Kirk feels very different at times from early Season 1 Kirk. Compare the thoughtful, measured Kirk of 1967 episodes to the Kirk of the night of September 8, 1966 that lambasted Professor Crater for "bleeding too much" and not wanting to kill the last of the salt creatures.

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And in the second season he reverts to this in going after the cloud creature in Obsession, which provokes that earlier, "kill the monster" motivation.

I think a lot of people don't want to admit that Spock is a messed up person. He was messed up in TOS and he's messed up in Discovery. He probably wanted to pursue Kholinar to straighten himself out and to actually become what he thought he wanted to be.

Watching Trek in chronological order will seem so anticlimactic now. Once Bashir has captured Sloan, we'll all be waiting for old Spock to show up out of nowhere and say, "I will take it from here", as he forcibly mind melds with Sloan to rip the cure for Odo out of Sloan's memory, following up on a century-long fight with Section 31.

Also, it's surprising that Cornwell takes that video at face value so easily. New research shows that creating fake videos is a very possible reality in the near future here in the 21st century...

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I feel like this is looking for a problem. Old Spock is already chronologically established to be working on Romulus towards reunification, a project that is a highly personal passionate project for Spock.

Secondarily, humans are very inclined to believe video evidence. The idea that it could be a fake is one that I don't think jumps readily to mind for everyone.

I don't see how those shrinks could have been Section 31 agents. It's not like S31 could have known Spock would commit himself...

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Why? Knowing this sort of stuff is the job of an intelligence service. a la:

"A bunch or weird identical visitations have shown up all across the galaxy."
"Search for anything that might provide us info."
"A government psychiatric care facility reports a Star Fleet officer started yammering on about this several weeks ago, and drawing it all over his rubber room, and he's a Vulcan."
"Put together a team to check it out."

I feel like this is looking for a problem. Old Spock is already chronologically established to be working on Romulus towards reunification, a project that is a highly personal passionate project for Spock.

Secondarily, humans are very inclined to believe video evidence. The idea that it could be a fake is one that I don't think jumps readily to mind for everyone.